Freak Like Me
by SoBoredItHurts
Summary: Seven-year-old Harry Potter is abandoned in front of a square rundown building, but something happens when he walks through the gates. Suddenly, Harry is living in an orphanage that's being run by a lady named Mrs. Cole. Time Travel. No Slash.


_**Disclaimer:**__** I don't own anything. **_

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Seven year-old Harry Potter sat in the back seat of his uncle's car holding a thin blanket wrapped around some of Dudley's old clothes on his lap. He was silent as his uncle drove, knowing that his uncle didn't like when he talked, and instead he opted to pick at a loose seam on his blanket as he wondered where they were going. It wasn't often that his uncle took him out in public if he could prevent it, and to take him somewhere without the presence of his aunt and cousin was almost unheard of. So when his uncle told him to get into the car earlier that evening, Harry was too shocked to do anything else.

The two of them had been driving for over two hours now. At first Harry had stared out the window, trying to get a clue on where they were headed, but that proved to be fruitless; everything was new and unfamiliar to him. They passed city after city, field after field, lake after lake, and each one looked the same as the next until they eventually all became one giant passing blur. Harry gave up, shifting his gaze onto his lap. All Harry knew was that this place, wherever they were going, required him to bring what little he owned. Harry wanted to believe that they were going to a dump to get rid of all his ratty old clothing, but he knew that was most likely not the case.

A few times he was tempted to speak up to get some answers, but he pushed those urges away; it was against the rules to ask questions, much like it was against the rules to talk.

After what felt like hours, Harry felt the car begin to slow. His eyes lifted eagerly to the window, anxious to soak in the sight of their destination. His uncle had parked his car in front of what looked like an abandoned building. It was a square, rundown place with boarded up windows and peeling paint, and it was surrounded by rusted high railings and two towering trees that seemed to glare down at their car. Harry gulped audibly, glancing at the rear-view mirror to see his uncle's expression. To Harry's surprise, his uncle's beady blue eyes were leveled on him in the mirror.

"Out, boy," his gruff voice commanded suddenly, startling Harry. A fine sheen of sweat covered his uncle's forehead as he moved his gaze to look around outside with shifty eyes. Harry had never seen his uncle like this before. "Boy, are you deaf? I said, _out._"

Harry nodded quickly. "Sorry, Uncle Vernon," he mumbled before unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the car door. In seconds, he was standing on the sidewalk with his pathetic bundle of belongings.

Slowly, the passenger window in the front seat began rolling down. Harry lightly kicked his door shut before moving up to stand in front of the door, using both hands to hold onto his old blanket.

"Frea—_Boy,_" his uncle corrected himself for some reason Harry couldn't understand; his family always called him freak unless they were around other people. Harry looked around the deserted area. As far as he could tell, there were no other people here. The streets were as abandoned as the building behind him.

"Take this," his uncle said, holding out a white envelope. Harry had to lean into the car and reach across the seat to grab it. "Hand that to whoever opens the door, and don't ask them questions."

Harry nodded, his eyes wide. His uncle… he wasn't going in with him?

"Agree with everything the person says, got it?"

Harry nodded again, clutching the letter tightly in his sweaty hand.

"If you don't there will be consequences, boy."

"Yes, sir."

His uncle's eyes danced around the area once more before he put his car into drive and sped off into the sunset, leaving without so much as saying "goodbye". Harry watched the car disappear around the corner in shock. And then he just stood there, surprised. He didn't know what to do, what to think. His mind was racing, as was his heart, and he couldn't control his trembling. His legs couldn't hold him up anymore. It hurt to think, but his mind was racing faster and faster.

Was he coming back? But Harry already knew the answer.

His uncle was gone… They were all gone. His uncle, his aunt, even his parents. They all left him, every single one of them. They gave up on him, threw him aside, left him for someone else to deal with because they didn't want him. Nobody wanted him. He was a freak. A no good freak with no friends or family. They abandoned him and they weren't coming back. They were all gone because he was a freak. They didn't want him because he was a freak. They abandoned him because he was a freak. They were gone. They left him. Abandoned. Gone. He was a freak. A freak, a freak, a freak.

Harry didn't know how long he had been sitting on the sidewalk hugging his legs to his chest with his bundle of clothes lying forgotten at his side. The sky was as black as Harry's hair, and the sun had completely set, but he couldn't remember how long ago that had been. His face glimmered with tears under the light of the street lamp. How long had he been crying? Harry sniffled loudly, wiping his battered sleeve across his nose and then rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses. Shakily, and without much purpose, he stood up. He knew he couldn't stay out here all night; the temperature was already dropping. He needed to go inside before he froze to death.

Harry turned away from the street, trying to hold back another set of tears, and faced the scary building his uncle had dropped him off at. It was too dark to see now, but he could just make out the dirt path beyond the fence leading up to the building. He would do as his uncle said, this last time, partly because he didn't know what else to do. He had nowhere else to go. His family abandoned him-

He bit his trembling lip and shook his head as if to shake away those thoughts before bending down to pick up his belongings. He was going in.

He stood in front of the rusty black gates for what felt like hours, hugging his bundle in an attempt to keep warm, unsure of what to expect next. Was this supposed to be his new home? Was the person inside expecting him? Would they even let him inside, or would they send him away?

Swallowing his fears, Harry pushed open the gate and let it swing forward loudly as the hinges squealed in protest. He took two slow hesitant steps and in those steps everything changed. It was like he stepped into another world. Lights suddenly shone through the _un-boarded_ windows, and the sound of talking and laughter could now be heard coming from the building. The building no longer looked rundown—there was even a fresh coat of paint on the walls. It looked like a completely different place, one filled with life. Harry glanced back at the street, wondering if maybe he made a mistake and walked through the wrong gates or something, but all he could see was the lone street lamp he had been crying under just minutes earlier.

He continued walking towards the door in a daze, still wondering how any of this was possible. He was positive he saw the building devoid of any sign of life just moments before. It was almost like magic… But magic wasn't real. His aunt and uncle told him it wasn't. It had to be an illusion, Harry decided. He had read about illusions not too long ago from a book he smuggled out of the school library about magicians. Magicians couldn't really do _magic; _it was all a trick, a trick of the light or something. Maybe the people who owned the building wanted the place to look like a wreck so nobody would bother them so they put up an illusion...

But as much as he tried telling himself that, Harry didn't completely believe it. Instead, he pushed the thought out of his mind.

And before he knew it, Harry was shivering and sniffling at the front door. Raising his small fist, his other hand holding his letter and sack, he knocked on the door. He only had to wait a few seconds before it opened, blowing a gust of warm air his way. In the doorway stood a round lady with curly brown hair and no neck. She had a tired, worn down face with dark bags under her eyes.

"Can I help ya?" she asked as if already knowing the answer, looking Harry over. Harry knew what she saw; a tiny, too-skinny boy with untidy black hair wearing ratty clothes several sizes too big for him, circular glasses held together by duct-tape, and large white running shoes with holes on the toes.

"Oh, um…" Harry dropped his bundle by his feet in order to hand the lady his letter. "My uncle told me—he told me to give this to you, ma'am."

The lady sighed, wiping her hands on her dress before taking the letter. She tore open the envelope, unfolded the paper, and began reading, and Harry wondered for the first time what was written in the letter. He never bothered to think about it before.

The lady lowered the letter with a loud sigh, turning her defeated eyes back on him.

"C'mon in, outta the cold," she said unenthusiastically, standing to the side to let him in. Harry grabbed his blanket sack from the ground with a quiet sniffle and hurried in without questioning her, just like his uncle told him to do, though he was mostly just anxious to get out of the cold. "Follow me," she said once she closed the door. "I'll take ya to Mrs. Cole; she runs this orphanage here."

….

_**The first chapter of any story always sucks, right? Well, that's true for this story, too.**_

_**And in case none of this made sense for some weird reason, I shall explain. **_

_**Dear little Harry here is seven years old, as stated in the first sentence of the chapter. He's done something (we don't know what yet) that caused the wonderful Dursley family to drop him off at an abandoned-looking building, which we later find out is an orphanage. But we're not there yet. So, little Harry's uncle drops him off, gives him a letter, and then speeds away without a backwards glance. Poor Harry is obviously upset. But, being the good little Gryffindor he is, Harry gathers up the courage to walk up to the abandoned building. However, something happens as he steps through the gate, something unexplainable. Harry doesn't know it, but he has stepped through a portal of sorts. And now the abandoned building isn't so abandoned anymore. **_


End file.
